


Not a Thing

by moodymarshmallow



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 16:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodymarshmallow/pseuds/moodymarshmallow





	Not a Thing

The message from the turian primarch arrived unannounced, and for three hours Mona locked herself in the den with his holo, lost deep in discussions about rebuilding Palavan and Earth, as well as mending general turian-human relations. That’s what Kaidan gathered, at least, when he poked his head into the room to ask if she wanted coffee and was greeted with a narrow-eyed glare and one hand raised in dismissal.

Kaidan closed the door behind him and walked the familiar hallway, bare feet sinking into plush carpeting. They’d picked the color after seeing a mock-up in a design magazine, lying in a hotel room a planet away, Liara sleeping against Mona’s side, Mona’s head on his chest. It took three trips to home renovation stores, Mona brandishing the magazine cover at a baffled sales associates, to find the match. The overhead light was still on from when Mona went upstairs, so he flicked the little switch as he rounded the corner to the stairs. He took them jogging, dodging a squeak toy, long since perforated by Fang’s razor teeth.

“She’s still speaking with him, isn’t she?” asked Liara as she sat on the couch, one eye on a datapad flickering with scrolling words. She insisted on multiple occasions that the stock ticker, a relic of the twentieth century, had its uses in the information business.

“I think it’s hopeless,” Kaidan replied, approaching the sofa like he was compelled to put his hand to the side of Liara’s warm cheek and kiss the other. Her eyes closed, and he smiled. “Why don’t we get some coffee? Let her play diplomat until she gets hungry enough to turn off the holo.”

A quick glance to the datapad came before Liara made up her mind, followed by one to Kaidan’s warm, smiling face. “Let me get my coat.”

Outside the air was cool enough that their breath hung in it in small white clouds, and Liara buttoned her jacket to the neck, sliding her hands into the pockets. They walked their long driveway together, Kaidan hooking his elbow with Liara’s, wordless, all small smiles and understanding.

There used to be a strip mall where they built their house. It sold cheap haircuts and frozen yogurt, and was a pile of smoldering rubble when the Reaper War ended. Vancouver was flattened, only reinforced steel structures surviving well enough to be rebuilt. Clean-up was ever ongoing, and clearing the plot where their house now stood had taken a year alone.

New growth sprang up around the city. Skyscrapers with mirrored windows rose from industrial parks, surrounded by squat, nondescript warehouses. Coffee houses and restaurants nudged up against sidewalks, flanked by pet groomers and boutiques selling knick-knacks and Shepard memorabilia. Mona avoided those stores, said it made her feel strange to see her face on t-shirts and mugs.

Four blocks from their house was a quiet coffee house two doors down from a chain. The owner, a cheerful Salarian who needed caffeine less than any other inhabitant of the rejuvenated city, said he knew the risks of opening a business so close to a multi-national coffee giant, but was sure his clientele would be better for it.

Kaidan and Liara took a booth near the window, warming hands on ceramic cups. Kaidan’s cheeks and nose were bitten pink by the bitter wind, and Liara leaned across the table to place her palm over his reddened skin, flashing a demure smile when he covered her hand with his.

“There used to be a toy store there,” Kaidan said, pointing past the newly planted Japanese maples to the park, past the few brave people sitting on park benches with their coffee, huddling close for warmth. “They always had the best window displays. There was a bank next door, and every time Mom would take me with her for errands, we always stopped to look in.” Kaidan rested his chin in his hand, gazing out the window and into the past.

“Did you ever go in?”

“A couple times. I’d take my allowance and go look. Never bought anything though.”

“Why not?” Liara asked, using her thumb to brush foamy milk from the side of her cup.

“I had everything I needed,” Kaidan said, looking at his folded hands, toying absently with the platinum band on his ring finger. “Still do, it seems.”

“You need to save those lines for Mona,” Liara said, hiding a smile behind her cup. “You know they make her ears red.”

“Just pretend to be flattered next time I use it.” He grinned, a little sheepish, a little foolish, all Kaidan.

They finished their coffee in sweet silence, listening to the murmur of music on the overhead speakers, punctuated occasionally by the bells on the door and the buzzing telephone, answered swiftly by a smiling Salarian in an apron.

On their way out, Kaidan bought a large black coffee in a paper to-go cup, and Liara used it to warm her hands as they walked home, the wind at their backs, Kaidan’s arm tight around Liara’s shoulders.

Mona was outside, Fang rolling at her feet, standing just inside the glow from the porchlight, gooseflesh on her bare arms. Her dark eyes lit up at the sight of them, and she took the coffee from Liara and let them corral her into the house, all apologies, making a big show of shivering until Kaidan unzipped his coat and wrapped her up in it, arms around her chest.

“You know what I need?” he asked her, his lips warm on her icy ear.

“What’s that?”

“Absolutely nothing.”


End file.
